The U.S. Department of Justice is stepping up its scrutiny of content deals involving artificial intelligence (AI) companies such as OpenAI.
Jonathan Cantor, the Federal Trade Commission's chief antitrust officer, stressed that entering into deals in which one party exercises monopoly buying power may not be permissible under the law. According to Bloomberg, Cantor made these remarks during an interview at a conference held at Stanford University, where he expressed concerns about the need for fair compensation for artists and creators.
Kantor's warning comes amid rising tensions between AI companies and artists. Actress Scarlett Johansson recently accused OpenAI of using a voice that sounds like her for its new GPT-4o chatbot, despite her refusal to provide her own voice. The incident highlights an ongoing conflict over the use of AI-generated voices and images in movies, TV and video games, which has become a contentious issue in entertainment industry labor negotiations.
In particular, AI companies such as OpenAI and Microsoft have faced numerous lawsuits from authors and media outlets, including The New York Times, over the use of their creative works to train their models, while some media outlets have chosen to enter into content deals with AI companies. These legal battles and agreements have brought the issue of fair compensation to the forefront.
PYMNTS notes that ongoing AI-driven concerns have recently Open Letter Featured in Billboard Magazine Artists Rights Alliance (ARA) advocates for the rights of musicians, performers and songwriters while calling for the ethical and responsible use of AI within the music industry.
Assistant Attorney General Kanter did not indicate that the Department of Justice would take immediate action, but stressed that the department is closely monitoring developments in the industry. Kanter emphasized that upstream or creative monopolies are forms of monopolies, regardless of whether they involve large language models.
Kanter argued that the Department of Justice has the authority to act under the antitrust principle of monopoly buying, which arises when supply chain buyers exercise excessive power, driving down prices and discouraging production. He warned that without competition to adequately reward creators, AI companies could abuse their monopoly buying power in unprecedented ways, with serious consequences.
While Kanter's concerns are primarily about the future of freedom of expression, he also raised similar questions about the use of medical patient data in large-scale AI models, and the importance of fairly paying journalists and news outlets, which are essential to a democracy.
